In many commercial and residential settings, trash collection is consolidated via conventional dumpsters prior to attendance by a local waste collection agency. Due to associated odors and other health concerns, dumpsters are generally located outdoors. The outdoor location further facilitates easy access by waste collection vehicles for lifting and emptying.
It is conventional practice to empty trash containers into the open-top, trash-receiving body of a trash pick-up truck by means of an automatically operable mechanism attached to the truck alongside the body. This equipment is used extensively in cities where residences and possibly at least certain commercial and industrial establishments are provided by the municipality with relatively large trash containers of uniform size and shape. Periodically, usually about once a week, the residences and other establishments place their trash containers in a suitable location, as at curb-side or in an alley, and the truck is driven from one trash container to the next. As the truck stops at each trash container, the mechanism moves laterally away from the truck, picks up the container, then retracts to its normal position alongside the truck and swings the container upwardly to an upside down position over the trash receiving body so that the trash in the container falls by gravity into the body. These motions are then repeated in reverse order to return the empty container to its original location.